Is this allowed?

cookie7209

Hi, I'm not sure if I'm posting in the right place here but something is concerning me and I need a little help please.

I live in a detached house with nextdoor's garage attached along one side. My neighbours were doing a lot of work in the garage and have now decided to sell. Despite being told by the neighbours that they were only creating storage space the selling details have shown that there is a bathroom, utility room (kitchen??) and 'annex' area. New windows, roof and door show make this look habitable although the building still looks like a garage from the front. We live in grade 2 listed buildings in a conservation area although the neighbours have said that the garage isn't listed.

I'm now concerned that to all intents and purposes half of the garage is now a habitable area. Are we still living in a detached house? They didn't get planning for the garage - should they have done? I don't want to live in a semi-detached house as that's not what I bought 9 years ago. Should I report the neighbours to the council?

Lioness_Twinkletoes

First thing I'd do is check the planning application via your Local Authority website. See what, if anything, they've made an application for.

Then, I'd ask a friend or relative to view the house and see what's actually been done. Then I'd make a decision based on those facts. If they have created an annex I would report them to the planners.

Cakeguts

If next door's garage was attached to the side of your house when you bought it then you have never lived in a detached house. A detached house is one where there is space all round the house and the house is not joined onto anything else. What you have is sometime described as link detached but it isn't a true detached house.

How did next door get planning permission to build their garage in such a way that it is right up to and attached to your wall?

AdrianC

Your house is just as detached as it already wasn't. There is nothing more or less attached to it than there was before. The pretentious EA term would be "link detached"... The term used is merely semantics - it is what it is, and that's what it's always been - except for what your neighbour uses the adjoining space for.

The only questions are whether the conversion came under permitted development or needed planning permission or listed building consent, and whether it meets building regs.

Davesnave

It would normally be permitted development, but with listed buildings that's likely to be different.

If there is no record on the council web site, then you may make enquiries to the council's conservation officer, but if the neighbours are selling, others will be doing the same thing anyway. Very few people will buy a listed house without seeing the relevant paperwork for extensions/alterations. I wouldn't. Conservation officers can be pedantic jobsworths!

And I agree with the others, your house is link-detached. There's no blanket law against converting garages in these properties, listed or unlisted.

casper_g

Is the garage also attached to your neighbour's house? If so, that's a link detached (or maybe now a semi-detached!). But if the neighbour's garage is attached to your house but NOT theirs, that's something else....

lincroft1710

Unusual that Grade 2 listed buildings have a neighbour's garage attached.

davidmcn

Whatever's in the garage, they would have needed consent to build it between two listed buildings. I presume they built it after the house was listed?

As above though, your house isn't detached if it's got somebody else's building attached to it.

parking_question_chap

Very unusual for a listed building to have a garage.

tomatoandcheese

When were the garages built? Depending on age they may in fact be listed as part of the curtilage of the house.

G_M

Is the neighbour's house listed? Have you checked?

https://www.historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list

or ask the council.

Most council websites also show Planning Applications/consents and/or Building Regulations certification. Have you checked?

Even if not listed, and within permitted development, such a conversion would have required BRs.